Amaravati land scam: Two, including retired Thullur tahsildar, arrested

Guntur: Two persons, including a retired tahsildar of Thullur, were arrested on 15 July in Guntur in connection with the Amaravati land scam that took place during the erstwhile TDP regime in Andhra Pradesh.

The Thullur police in Guntur district arrested the retired tahsildr (mandal revenue officer) Anne Sudhir Babu (62) and Gummadi Suresh on Wednesday. The police said that Gummadi Suresh from Vijayawada was arrested on charges of illegally buying assigned lands that were being cultivated by the Dalits.

Sudhir Babu, meanwhile, is facing charges of fabricating land records. He was closely connected to some TDP leaders during the party's rule in the state. He is accused of manipulating land records in connivance with some TDP leaders.

The police said that it was a case of wilful and wrongful transfer of assigned lands and interference with the rights of the landless and poor Schedule Caste (SC) people. The men had acquired the lands illegally through forgery and criminal conspiracy. Based on a complaint from Kurapati Venkateswara Rao, an advocate from Guntur, the Thulluru police registered a case and started an investigation.

According to the police, around 7.4 acres of land in Pedalanka of Rayapudi village was surrendered to the government under the land ceiling process. Subsequently, the government assigned the land to eligible poor and landless people. But, Yalamanchali Suraiah and his two sons illegally registered the land allotted to the poor by executing a registered document in favour of Gummadi Suresh.

Gummadi Suresh, in turn, executed a sale deed in the name of Valluri Srinivasa Babu. At the time of registration, they submitted pattadar passbook, a title deed, Adangal, ROR-IB, and enjoyment certificate issued by the then tahsildar Anne Sudhir Babu in support of their claim over the assigned land before the sub-registrar of Mangalagiri.

Sudhir Babu made changes in WebLand illegally in order to facilitate the above individuals to dispose of the assigned land in favour of Valluri Srinivas Babu. The tahsildar created false documents by changing revenue records in connivance with Gummadi Suresh and others.

The tahsildar issued six different reports with different dates to the CRDA authorities changing the classification of the subject land from assigned land to patta land and then from patta land to assigned land, thereby deliberately facilitating the parties to bring the registered deeds into existence for the assigned lands. In turn, Valluri Srinivasa Babu offered the assigned land to the CRDA for land pooling to avail of the benefits (returnable plots/annuity) under the land pooling scheme.

Sudhir Babu was the tahsildar of Thullur from October 2014 to August 2017. He submitted a report to the CRDA on 27 November 2015. In the report, he mentioned that the land in survey No.376/2A was assigned land. Later, on 18 December 2015, he changed the classification of the said land to patta land. After the execution of the sale deed by the GPA holder Gummadi Suresh Babu in favour of Valluri Srinivasa Babu, Sudhir Babu again changed the classification of the land to “assigned land” on 7 June 2016. Gummadi Suresh later sold the assigned lands to third parties for huge amounts.

The DSP of Thulluru, Y. Srinivas Reddy, said they arrested Sudhir Babu and Gummadi Suresh under various Sections of the IPC, the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989, and the AP Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act 1977. The arrested were sent to judicial custody, he added